


Twice as Unstoppable

by jadesparrow333



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Ford and Stan Bonding, Gen, Post Weirdmageddon, Pre Stan O'War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 18:40:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29921157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jadesparrow333/pseuds/jadesparrow333
Summary: The day before they start the adventure of a lifetime, Stan has something to show Ford in the woods of Gravity Falls.  For the Forduary 2021 Week 2 Challenge, Angst/Fluff (I can't write angst)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 32
Collections: Forduary





	Twice as Unstoppable

Angst-Fluff Forduary

_“One of these days… we’ll be an unstoppable team of adventurers!”_

Ford stood in the middle of the TV room of the Mystery Shack, surrounded by boxes, containers, and bags, holding a clipboard and muttering to himself as he glanced around and checked things off his list. He and Stan were leaving Gravity Falls the next day for the adventure of a lifetime, and Ford wanted to make sure they would have everything they needed.

“Stanley?” he called.

“Yeah?” Stan poked his head in the room from the kitchen.

“Where did you pack the spare cameras?”

“Uhhhh,” Stan thought a moment. “They’re with the colored pencils. In that clear box over there,” he lifted his chin in the general direction. 

Ford walked over to the box to see, sure enough, spare cameras and colored pencils. He chuckled as he checked off a couple of boxes, then shook his head. “How are you so good at this?”

Stan snorted. “You try runnin’ a gift shop for thirty years without developin’ some sorta talent for inventory,” he said.

“Fair,” Ford answered with a smile.

Stan leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms, a sly smile on his face. “Speaking of thirty years…I spent that whole time reading your first journal and half the summer reading the other two- and guess what.”

“Hm?” Ford asked, distracted as he went back to checking his list.

“I discovered somethin’ in Gravity Falls you didn’t.”

Ford stopped. “Come again?” he said, lowering his clipboard.

“When I was looking for your other journals, I found an, uh, _anomaly_ that you hadn’t found.” Stan expanded, a little more smugly than Ford thought was warranted.

“Really?” Even with Stan being obnoxious, Ford couldn’t stop his excited grin. “Where did you find it? What did it look like? Did you document it at all?”

“Whoa, calm down there Poindexter,” Stan said with a huge grin. “I didn’t keep a journal like some nerd I know, but I can easily find it again. In fact,” his eyes gleamed. “I can show you right now.”

Ford deflated slightly. “This isn’t one of your Mystery Shack shams, is it?”

“Nope,” Stan grinned. “This is the real thing. Come on, Sixer! Let’s kick off our adventures early!”

Ford looked around him. There was still so much to do… but his brother was looking at him with that grin that had always promised and delivered adventure when they were growing up, there was a chance to already study something new, and he really was getting tired of that clipboard…

Ford looked back to his brother, his grin reflecting Stan’s. “All right. Let’s go!”

Ford let Stan’s chatter wash over him as they hiked through the woods. It was square in the middle of autumn, and even in all his travels he didn’t think he had ever seen something so beautiful as the leaves changing in Gravity Falls. He couldn’t believe how light he had felt in the past month- lighter than he possibly ever had in his life. He was no longer hiding, hunting, or just trying to survive. It was an incredible feeling. 

“OK, we’re here,” Stan said, leading him to a clearing full of a dozen or so grazing goats.

Ford excitedly looked around, taking a notebook and pen out of his trench coat. “Fantastic,” he said. “Where is it?”

“You’re looking at ‘em,” Stan motioned to the clearing with a sweep of his arm.

Ford stared for a few moments, his grin slowly fading. “These are goats, Stanley.”

“They weren’t in your journals,” Stan said loftily.

“Because they aren’t anomalies,” Ford answered back, trying to keep his patience.

“Oh yeah?” Stan said, then hit Ford in the arm.

“Ow!” Ford shouted. “What was-” but he stopped as the herd of goats suddenly flapped their wings and flew around the clearing, then settled back down again, their wings folding back against their bodies, making them look just like normal goats as they continued to graze.

Ford’s jaw dropped.

Stan looked at him with an almost nervous smile on his face. “Pretty interesting, yeah?” He asked Ford hopefully.

“Extremely!” Ford answered, already moving closer to get a better look. 

“They only fly when they hear someone get startled,” Stan continued, following Ford. “I first saw them when I tripped over a tree root somewhere around here, looking for your dang journals. When I tried to make them fly again by just shoutin’, it didn’t work. Watch.” He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Hey!” he boomed. “Goats!” He picked up a stick and hit it against a tree. “Fly around again!” 

The goats did nothing except continue to graze, one of them looking up at Stan as he languidly chewed, then once more focused on the grass.

“Fascinating,” Ford murmured, sitting down so he could more easily sketch. He pretended not to notice as Stan surreptitiously (or so he thought) got closer so he could see what Ford was recording, but his smile grew slightly larger. 

“They seem like they eat regular grass,” Stan continued. “Besides the flying, they just act like regular goats. Except, heh, at night they sleep up in the trees.”

Ford turned his head and raised an eyebrow. “ _Really_ , Mr. Mystery?” he asked dryly.

Stan’s eyes grew wide, then he burst into a laugh. “ _Really_ , Mr. ‘Twelve Ph.Ds’” he put his fingers up in air quotes. “C’mon, I’ll show you their nests.”

“Just a moment,” Ford said. “I need to finish up this sketch.”

Stan leaned against a tree with a heavy sigh, but even with so much time spent apart Ford could recognize it was more performative than sincere, and went back to his notebook.

Ford sketched in silence for a few moments, engrossed in trying to capture the goats on paper. He needed a better view of the wings. He looked up at Stan, who was absentmindedly rolling a coin across his fingers, apparently lost in thought. Well, one good turn deserved another…

“Stanley!” Ford shouted and suddenly leapt up, causing Stan to yelp and drop his coin, which in turn startled the goats enough to take flight. Ford quickly settled down again, sketching the direction of the feathers and the shape of the wings, as Stan swore at him.

“An’ I coulda had a heart attack, right here,” he continued.

“Calm down, Stanley,” Ford said with a smile while still sketching, then he said something he’d always say when they were younger. “It’s for science.”

“Don’t you ‘it’s for science’ me-” Stan answered, but didn’t sound very angry. He huffed. “Guess we’re even now.”

Ford nodded as the goats settled down and got up to stretch. “I’ll take it.” He turned to his brother. “Do you still want to show me the nests?”

Stan grinned. “Yeah, they’re right over in that big tree on the other side of the clearing.” He pointed, then stretched his neck and rolled back his shoulders. “Race ya,” he said, and bolted.

Ford was already several strides into his run before his brain caught up with him and let him know how ridiculous this was. He didn’t have to run, he didn’t have to prove anything to Stanley, they would both be sweaty and out of breath by the time they reached the tree and probably wouldn’t be able to climb up immediately…

But all of those thoughts were instantly pushed out of his head as he enjoyed the thrill of running for the fun of it, for the idea that he might get to where he was going just a little bit quicker, and of being behind, alongside, and finally ahead of his twin brother.

He leaned up against the tree in an attempt to be casual while getting his breath back, a smirk on his face as he watched Stan stagger the last few steps. “Beat you,” he said.

“Yeah, well,” Stan panted. “I… have more… muscle than you, so…” he gulped for some air. “I probably wouldn’t… be as quick…”

“What happened to the possibility of a heart attack?” Ford teased. 

Stan glared at him, using an arm to prop himself up as he coughed. “You’d feel so guilty if I just dropped dead right now…”

Ford laughed, Stan joining him with the addition of a few interrupting coughs, which made them laugh even harder. Soon they found themselves sitting on the ground, laughing uncontrollably until they were spent. They leaned against the tree, recovering from the laughs with a little chuckle here and there, taking their time getting their breath back.

“I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in decades,” Ford said, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

“Heh, same,” Stan answered, still slightly breathless. “I guess that’s what being around family does t’ya.”

Ford took a deep breath to respond, when an all-too familiar feeling crept over him. It was something he had honed over years of being on the run, a feeling that danger was right around the corner.

“Stanley, duck!” Ford yelled.

“Hah, if y’think I’m falling for that one again Six-” but Stan couldn’t finish as Ford pushed him to the side, barely getting out of the way of the giant coyote who leapt to attack them.

Ford rolled away from the tree and landed in a crouch between Stan and the coyote, his hand going for the gun on his hip that he still wore, and carefully aimed at the growling monster animal in front of him. 

The coyote leapt first, but Ford was read and shot it with the stun setting of his gun, freezing the anomaly in midair and watching as it fell harmlessly to the ground.

He turned to Stan. “Are you all right?”

“Geez, Sixer, when did you get so tough?” Stan asked, a stunned look on his face.

“We’ve survived an apocalypse and several other things together and you’re just _now_ asking this?”

Stan snorted. “I thought it was a fluke.” He groaned as he got up. “What _is_ that thing?” he asked, nudging it with his foot. “I’ve never seen a coyote that big!”

Ford had whipped out his notes again. “Most likely the reason your goats have nests in the tree,”

“No kidding,” Stan said. “Hey, look at this- it has some sort of weird frills around its ears!”

“Intriguing!” Ford said, sketching out the frills.

“Hey, uh, how long is this paralyzing stuff supposed to last?” Stan asked.

“An hour or so on something this large,” Ford muttered, engrossed in his sketch.

“We’d better get a move on then if you want to see the nests… and if we’re gonna get outta here without another run in,” Stan responded.

Ford nodded. “Good point. Lead the way,”

They hoisted themselves up into the tree, and in less than a minute Stan proudly showed Ford the goat-sized nests nestled in the branches, Ford asking Stan questions about when he saw the goats in the nests and whether they were egg layers or something else, taking notes on Stan’s experiences and his own observations.

After about half an hour they climbed down and headed out of the clearing, passing the still frozen giant coyote with a watchful eye, and were soon back on the trail to the Mystery Shack.

“So what are the goats called, Stanley?” Ford asked.

“What?” Stan asked. “I don’t know, I never hearda them before-”

“Yes, that’s the point.” Ford smiled. “Since you discovered them, you get to name them.”

Stan rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, I thought of pegassuses when I saw ‘em,”

Ford bit his lip to prevent him from correcting his brother on the plural of pegasus.

“But ‘pegasus goat’ was too long to say, so I always kinda thought of ‘em as…peggoats.”

Ford nodded thoughtfully, and pulled out his notebook to title the page. “I think that works just fine. It’s a great addition to our observations.”

“Yeah?” Stan asked. “Good.” They walked in silence for a few more moments, when Stan chuckled.

“What?” Ford asked. 

“Heh, I was just thinkin’ how weird it was that we kinda, like… became each other.”

Ford glanced at his brother. “I don’t follow.”

“Here’s me showin’ you some weird thing and tellin’ you all the stuff I noticed- practically studied- about it, and then there’s you saving me from gettin’ my butt handed to me…” Stan shook his head wryly. “And I spent my spare time the past thirty years tinkering with some nerd project in the basement, teaching myself math and physics and crap that I otherwise wouldn’t think twice about…”

“And I’m a wanted criminal in several dimensions,” Ford added. “I got pretty decent at gambling as well,”

“You _still_ owe me stories about that, by the way,” Stan told him with a grin. “But… it’s kinda funny, isn’t it?”

“It really is,” Ford answered thoughtfully. “I wonder what that means.”

“It _means_ we’re going to be _twice_ as unstoppable on our adventures together,” Stan answered, pulling Ford into a side hug and punching a fist into the air. “You spooky critters had better watch out- the Pines boys are coming for ya together!”

Ford laughed joyfully at the declaration, and as they reached the Mystery Shack right at sunset, once more marveled at how light he felt. Not because what he no longer had in his life…

But because of what he had once again gained.

**Author's Note:**

> There is actually some debate about the plural of pegasus. Pegasi? Pegasussess? Pegasides? Good times, guys. ;)


End file.
